August 17, 2021: LALDEF announced today that it is one of 150 Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) nationwide that has received a $100,000 award from the CDC Foundation to promote Vaccine Equity and Access. This sub-award from the CDC Foundation is part of an initiative by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support effective community outreach, centering around communities of Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), in order to share accurate, culturally appropriate information about the COVID-19 and flu vaccines, and link adults to vaccine services.

This grant will further the work of LALDEF’s four bilingual Community Health Workers, who have been promoting COVID-19 awareness since early March 2021. The earlier work was funded by a recently renewed grant from the ELC (administered by the New Jersey Department of Health Division of Family Health Services and the Maternal Child Health Consortia), which supports expanded access to COVID-19 testing and vaccines, as well as training for community health workers to connect at-risk residents with services and information with respect to COVID-19.

LALDEF’s Executive Director Cecy Jimenez-Weeast noted that these grants have allowed LALDEF to expand its services at a time of urgent community need: “The work is critical for our immigrant community, which has been deeply impacted by this on-going pandemic. We are truly grateful for the CDC Foundation’s support of these efforts.”

As part of the initiative, LALDEF’s Community Health Workers have received special training through the New Jersey Department of Health’s Colette Lamothe-Galette Community Health Worker Institute to address client needs related to COVID-19 in culturally sensitive ways and increase the community’s access to vital services. LALDEF will continue to partner with both the Trenton Health Team and Catholic Charities, Trenton Diocese to further ongoing efforts to ensure that our community has access to COVID-19 testing and vaccines, as well as quality information about the virus.

Pete Taft, Chair of LALDEF’s Board of Trustees, added, “LALDEF needs to be at the forefront of the fight against this virus in the underserved immigrant community of Mercer County. These grants support that effort. We could not be prouder of the work our staff is doing to combat misinformation and fear.”

Click HERE for Trenton Health Team’s list of COVID-19 vaccination locations, dates, and times.